Animal Plastic T8 and hide question in general

[BornToHerp]

So call me selfish, but I honestly love my ball pythons and their amazing morphs, so in turn I want to be able to see them all the time. I keep the majority of my collection in tubs, because I know ball pythons live the majority of their life subterranean and enjoy their privacy, but I want to keep a few in Animal Plastic T8's w/o any hides. I know if I put a couple hides in the T8, I will defeat my purpose of always being able to see my snakes and might as well keep them in tubs. My question is has anyone kept their ball pythons in a T8, glass aquarium, or any see through enclosure without a hide? If I try it are there any obvious signs the snake is stressed, other than not eating or constantly moving around the cage? I obviously wouldn't try this with one of more shy ball pythons or a apprehensive feeder.

[TCampanaro]

I have my pastel in a tub, but my reg and pin. are in glass aquariums.
Honestly though, I'm the same way, I would prefer to see my snakes instead of them hiding all the time.
But the factor of that stressing them out is not worth it to me
So in order for me to be able to see them and for them to be comfortable I have their hides so that the opening is facing me.
So just angle them so you're able to see them and they can still be 'hiding'!
Hope this helps.

[chrid16371]

For a cage you need a hides. Without hides is going to probably cause stress and refused meals, bps need that sense of security to thrive. They are not having a dark place to hide while it's day time with light for a nocturnal species would be stressful also. You have to think about there native habitat also, they spend there time in dark termite mounds and rodent holes. The only way to avoid hides really would to use a tub but that wouldn't give you the viewing you want and may still need to use a hide anyways. I don't really consider a ball python being a viewing animal, if someone is over and wants to see them I'll take them out.

I completely understand why you don't want to use hides though. Because of my work schedule during the week I see my snakes when I feed, handle, and when they poke their heads out of hides. The weekends I have off and stay up much later so I get to see them when they are out at night and I really enjoy it, gives me something to look forward to every weekend. I have my beardies for day, Leos and bps for night lol

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[LittleTreeGuy]

In my opinion, putting a BP in an enclosure without a hide is no different than getting a German Shepard and putting it on a 5 foot leash in the back yard and leaving it there. Will it survive? Yes. Will it be a happy pet? not a chance.



There are plenty of other snake varieties that are beautiful and would make great display snakes. BP's are beautiful, no doubt about that... but please don't even consider keeping one without proper housing.

[CloudtheBoa]

The type of enclosure is totally up to you, but hides are a must imo, if the enclosure is too small for hides it's too small for the snake. Ball pythons are nocturnal, they're out and about during the night. This is true of any nocturnal animal, and very few snakes make good display animals, most like to hide. If you want a display animal, get a diurnal, active species, or get an arboreal like a GTP or ETB since they naturally sleep in the open. There will always be exceptions, but those types of snakes are the only ones I'd consider for display animals.